Poker Face
by seaweedfma
Summary: After Al got his body back, he needed to learn the nuances of being human again. What better way then with a poker game? Rated K. Nothing bad. Alphonse Elric x Sciezka. Slightly AU. Veering off after Ep. 49 of the first anime. Al is human and is 18 not 14


This was a gift fic for **tiptoeinthesnow**. She deserves so much more because of the awesome art she has done, but I hope she enjoys this humble little fic.

Title: Poker Face  
Pairing: Al x Sciezka  
Rating: PG-13  
Prompt: Take it all  
Warnings/Notes: This is slightly AU, veering off from about episode 49 or so. Assumes the movie didn't happen. He did get his body back, and he is 18, not 14.

Al stared at the cards, intently studying the intricate swirls of the color on the two jacks that he held. He rubbed his thumb up and down the back of the card, still loving the somewhat new feeling of even the most mundane things. The rest of the cards in his hand were much less interesting than the face cards- he had a two, a five, and a three.

"I'll take three cards," he announced. He kept the jacks and placed the others in the discard pile, then picked up three new cards from the deck. His breath hitched for just a moment, and he stopped and looked at his opponent with a horrified look on his face.

Thankfully, Sciezka seemed to be staring down over her glasses at her cards. He breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that she missed the momentary loss of his 'poker face'. Ever since he had become human, he found it hard to keep the emotions off his face, since he finally had a face again to show them. That is why Sciezka had agreed to practice playing poker with him, so he could learn to control his emotions. He looked back down at his hand, smiling inwardly this time at the pair of fives that joined his pair of jacks.

"One for me," Sciezka discarded a card and picked up the next one from the draw pile. Al watched her face for any sign of what she had- any change in her emotions, but there was none. When it came to poker, she was a wall.

That was why the pile of chips was so much higher on her side, he lamented. He eyed his small stack of white chips, knowing that one bad hand would wipe him out. He smiled very slightly. 'But not this hand,' he thought to himself. 'There is no way she is going to beat two pair!'

She looked at Al for a moment, then down to his chips, then back up at him. "I bet twenty," she said, nonchalantly pushing the required number of chips towards the center of the table. She smiled smugly, knowing that the bet was going to put him all in. If he wanted to match her bet, it was going to take the rest of his chips. She had called him out. It was all or nothing now.

It only took Al a second to think about it. "I'm in," he replied, grinning at the look of surprise that broke her stone-faced facade for a brief moment.

"So, what do you have?" She asked, sliding the smooth smile back into place.

"Two pair!" He exclaimed happily, putting his cards down on the table. "Read 'em and weep!"

His hands were already going towards the pile of chips in the table when he stopped suddenly when she placed her cards on the table as well.

"Full house. Sorry. I get the pot, and the win!" Al's face dropped. She used both of her hands to rake all of the chips towards her, and then started to stack them into similar colors and amounts.

"If I remember correctly, according to our agreement, the loser will take the winner out for dinner to a restaurant of their choosing, correct?" There was no missing the smugness in her tone.

Al sighed. "Yes. And I guess you are thinking about that expensive little Drachman restaurant across town. You've been talking about it for months."

Sciezka shook her head. "How about the noodle restaurant down the street?" She asked. "Say, about 7 PM tonight?"

"Sure, that sounds good. I'll meet you there."

She stood up and walked around the table, giving him a little kiss on the cheek and a hand squeeze. "We really do need to work on keeping a straight face. I guess we will just have to keep trying. How many free meals have I gotten so far?" Al smiled and shrugged.

Sciezka had almost walked out of the room when she called over her shoulder, "You know, it is a shame that I have to keep tricking you into going out on dates with me." She smiled and waved, closing the door behind her and leaving the process of cleaning up to the loser as well.

Al smiled and shook his head, and started to put away the poker chips. "A shame indeed," he said, replying to an empty room.


End file.
